A 71-year-old man in China has become the first living person to survive for months after receiving a pig liver transplant.

The patient, who has not been named, underwent the world’s first xenotransplanted liver procedure at Anhui Medical University in Hefei in May 2024, after doctors removed a large part of his own liver due to a tumour.

The operation used a genetically engineered pig liver, designed to reduce the risk of organ rejection.

According to the research team, the liver functioned normally for 38 days before it was removed due to complications.

The man later recovered from surgery but died 171 days after the initial transplant from repeated episodes of upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Lead investigator Dr. Beicheng Sun said the case marked a critical advance in xenotranspla

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